Chapter 1: Part 7

Part 7

After Sumika exited the room, there were only Homura and Chikori left inside the room.

For a while Chikori was dumbfounded from the fact that a duel between her and Sumika had been decided, but when she came to her senses she protested to Homura as if snarling.

"Wh, what kind of promise that you decided by yourself!? Th, this is troubling for me you know-!"

"This is the chance to clear your reputation right? If you win against Hoshikawa, then you won't be called useless for the second time anymore."

"That might be so but, for me to win against leader, there is no way that's possible…. In the first place leader didn't do anything bad at all! Today too she tried to help me who violated the order, she was always supervising the training of the weak me! Yet…even though you don't know anything, don't you badmouth leader-!"

Chikori moved her small body in a large way and expressed the strength of her anger.

That anger was not about the duel that had been decided without her say-so, but an anger toward the fact that Homura criticized Sumika without knowing about her dedication.

Sumika was accomplishing her duty as the leader of a trainee platoon far surpassing the standard that had been demanded from her.

Chikori knew about that.

And also about how she and the other was dragging down the legs of such Sumika.

That was why, she couldn't bear it for Homura to unreasonably hurt Sumika with his words.

(I've to quickly apologize to leader...!)

She had to quickly restore the unfairly wounded honor of Sumika.

Surely right now she was deeply wounded.

Thinking so, Chikori brushed aside Homura and reached out her hand to the doorknob in order to chase after Sumika.

Homura's voice reached that back.

"Where do you plan to go?"

"That's obvious! I'm going to apologize to leader!"

"Even though I've said that I'm gonna make you stronger than that girl from now on? What are you gonna do about the mock battle tomorrow?"

"Something like that has nothing to do with me! Rather than that, I've to apologize to leader quickly. If it's now perhaps she will forgive me―"

"After apologizing and getting forgiven, you are going to keep being a hindrance to her for your whole life?"

"――-!?"

Instantly, from Homura's words that was quiet as if being whispered, yet possessing a sharpness that pierced her heart from the back, Chikori's whole body froze.

"Just what are you getting surprised from? You apologize. Hoshikawa forgives you. I become the bad guy. With that everything is buried. That's the gist of it right. That's what are you going to do right now."

"That, is..."

"It's just the idea of putting on hold everything by leaving behind the real problem and preserves the surface of your human relationship. Not just you Ichinotani. That girl Hoshikawa too. Before I came out, that girl was trying to apologize to you for saying too much. But, that was the wrong action. No matter how much you try to maintain the surface of your relationship, the left behind pestering wound will surely coming to a head someday. And that's also gonna happen in a scene that's even more fatal than today. That's why I cut in there."

Correct. Even Homura understood perfectly that Sumika didn't have any wrong.

No rather, he evaluated Sumika as an excellent magician that was too much for the level of a student, a competent leader.

But, there was only one, one thing that Sumika fatally mistaken as the way to resolve this problem.

That was exactly why, Homura created this situation where he made Sumika to duel Chikori without apologizing.

There was only one way to resolve the problem of these two, there was no other way than for Chikori to become strong.

Therefore Homura asked Chikori.

"Ichinotani, do you think you are fine staying like you are now?"

Against that question, the shoulder of Chikori who was grasping the doorknob shook.

―Just who in the world can think that it's okay to stay like this.

That's,

"...It's obvious that even me think it's not okay."

The answering voice was filled with painful emotion.

That's right, she too thought that she couldn't stay like this. She never thought even for an instant that it was okay.

That was why, she did all the training that she could come up with.

Almost the whole time of her day was devoted for training her magic power.

"But, it didn't do me a single good at all! Even though everyone else rapidly get stronger doing the same training, just me, rather than getting stronger I rapidly getting weaker instead!"

When she first enrolled into New Tokyo Sorcery Academy she wasn't like this.

But, about three months after enrolling, suddenly her magic power became unable to grow.

No, it was not just that. No matter how desperate the effort that she did, even when she piled up effective training that Sumika thought really hard for her sake, day by day Chikori became unable to knead her magic power well, and right now she had completely weakened until she became unable to even mostly use her contracted Heroic Spirit's .

Just why did this happen.

The answer that came out from the instructor she consulted with was, ―this was the [limit of her talent].

The limit of her capacity as magician. That was why the instructor said that she couldn't hope for more than this.

Then―

"Then it can't be helped."

She didn't think that it was fine for her to stay like this.

But if she was told that she couldn't hope for more than this―

"Isn't there nothing I can do, except doing my hardest at what I can do right now."

That was why Chikori did just that until now.

She trained for dozens of times longer than other people, trying to at the very least slow down the declining of her magic power.

Like that she did the only thing she could do until now.

That was why, being asked [is it fine to stay like this] this late just made her irritated.

"…There is nothing else to be said more than this."

Saying that, this time for sure Chikori was going to get out of the room. But,

"It's a mistake that this is the limit of your talent. What happen to you, ―is just a sickness."

"...eh-"

The girl's leg stopped from the unforeseen word